Alexia Putellas to leave Barcelona at the end of the season

Barcelona have announced two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas will depart the club this summer.

Putellas, 32, will bring an end to her 14 years at the Catalan side, in which time she has established herself as one of the best players in the world and Barcelona have grown into a dominant force in European women’s football.

Her contract expires at the end of season and she will leave Barcelona as a free agent, having last signed fresh terms in 2024.

According to sources with knowledge of the matter, Putellas is exploring the best options in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), especially given the division’s new high impact player rule, which allows teams to spend as much as $1million above the salary cap on players who meet certain criteria.

The midfielder’s announcement comes after she captained Barcelona to a 4-0 win over Lyon in Saturday’s Champions League final, securing a fourth European title in six years.

Barcelona have already won the 2025-26 Liga F title but have two league games remaining this season, with Wednesday’s home fixture against Real Sociedad and Sunday’s match away to Madrid CFF marking Putellas’ final two games as a Barca player.

She rejoined Barcelona from Levante in 2012 and has scored 234 goals in 512 appearances for the club.

The Spain international has won 10 league titles and was an integral part of the Barcelona side that lifted the women’s Champions League for the first time in 2021.

Putellas won the Ballon d’Or in 2021 and 2022, and returned to become a key figure for club and country after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury on the eve of the 2022 European Championship.

‘Putellas embodies Barcelona’

When Alexia Putellas rejoined Barcelona in 2012 — she had first signed for the club in 2005 at the age of nine but had left — the best players were heading off to play in the United States. Nobody wanted to play in the Spanish league because it had no real ambition. Spanish teams weren’t competitive in Europe, and neither was the national team.

But Putellas stayed.

She embodies the professionalism of Spanish women’s football, of Barcelona, and the strides it has made over the last 10 years.

She was the first Spanish and Barcelona Ballon d’Or Feminin winner, and also the second. She is the most iconic player the women’s team has ever had. She is the captain, the glue that has held the dressing room together in times of crisis, the role model and idol that the young players now coming through to the first team have grown up admiring. And she is very close to Barca’s young talent.

Putellas is leaving Barcelona at her peak, having returned to her best form since tearing her ACL in 2022. A key player, a Ballon d’Or contender once again, and leaving Barcelona as champions of everything and with their fourth Champions League title.

Putellas is leaving to pursue new challenges, having spent almost her entire career at Barcelona. An era is coming to an end, both for her and for the club. A new era is beginning, but the fans are left bereft of their queen.